CU-1 Gallery: A Touch of Class

A Touch of Class 

12.03.2013. By Raul Guerrero

Founded in the renovated 1920s iconic Securities Building, NE 2nd Avenue, Downtown Miami, the rapidly gentrifying Historic Center, CU-1 Gallery adds a needed touch of class. It's a space for photography where high fashion meets art. 

The Securities building lodged one of Miami’s largest financial institutions, fostering the real estate boom of the 1920s. Banking was not what it is now, of course. The world was still ruled by the gold-standard, and to attest that distinct past, CU-1 gallery showcases in the large vault a new treasure, the photography of Cheyco Leidmann.

I ask one the three German founders, Marc Schmitz: 

Miami might be acquiring a taste for photography, but putting forth serious money for photography in the age of the selfie can be tricky... How is the business gamble paying off?

He lifts one eyebrow, which remarkably does project a question mark, as if saying Rome was not built in one day. Marc Schmitz, the managing gallerist, a medical doctor who chose art over medicine, guides me to an enormous cross containing a multitude of nude photographs in black and white. “The photographer followed porno stars, and came up with this composition,” he says.

That was the opening show. The gallery opened in July.

The new exhibit, EYE to EYE, part of the madness called Art Basel, features KRISTIAN SCHULLER – main gallery & CHEYCO LEIDMANN – vault room. The exhibit went largely unappreciated. A pity, considering what art was appreciated.  of…

From the Paris Exhibit Toxic Product

Cheyco leidmann established a new cutting edge style of visual expressionism during the 1980s. His intensely colored and stylized images helped define a graphic aesthetic which sparked the imagination of many. Leidmann’s publication Foxy Lady was chosen by Vogue as one of nine cult classic books of the last five decades. Cheyco lives and works between Paris and the US.

Reading by Raul Guerrero

Events

One of CU-1 Gallery's stated purposes is celebrate art and bring it to life. "Be more than just a place to hang art," commented gallerist Marc Schmitd, one of the founders. "CU-1 places emphasis on the integration of art and life. integrate the community and the gallery through the many events we offer in conjunction with the exhibits: film, fashion happenings, book readings, maybe an experimental opera..."

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